Dear all,

I am calculating with CAESAR an steel pipe with a diameter of 2000mm. This pipe has a buried part, then comes out and has a change of direction with an elbow and connects with a condenser.
My doubt is the following:
The pipe has a normal circulating flow of 15000 m3/h.
Does CAESAR consider the water force due to a change in direction? Since no data of flow is required in the program i suppose that this effect is not considered.
Do I have to consider it as a punctual force in the elbow? Or is this forced compensated somehow and it is not necessary to include it in the pipe stress calculation.

Thank you all!!

No CAESAR II does not consider the fluid force due to a change in direction. In a static stress analysis, everything is assumed to be in static equilibrium.

If the fluid hydraulics of the system are such that you are worried about the system's integrity, you should perform a hydraulic analyis, or other local evaluation to make insure you avoid failure.

Dear Carletes,

I think Richard is right: To answer your question concerning "punctual forces" on elbows, these forces are more depending on pressure variations than depending on varying flow conditions only. Usually, these loads will be time-history forces which can be computed by the hydraulic analysis Richard mentioned.

Feel free to contact me if you need further information.

All the best,
Veit Bockemühl
www.esn-gmbh.com
www.surgeanalysis.com